How Neuralstem Discovered This New Neurogenic DrugAbout 10 years ago, the Army gave Neuralstem $2.5 million to develop a drug that would prevent hippocampal shrinkage and improve cognitive ability in soldiers who were experiencing severe stress due to extreme battle conditions. It turns out that when soldiers are stressed, particularly due to lack of sleep, they experience hippocampal atrophy (their hippocampus shrinks). The Army wanted a way to deal with this condition because the soldiers did not perform well when afflicted with hippocampal atrophy.Neuralstem was hired because it was the only company that had proven it was able to grow hippocampal stem cells. In order to develop and test this new neurogenic drug for the Army, an unlimited supply of hippocampal stem cells were needed.Neuralstem began the development process by testing 700,000 different drug compounds via computer models. From there, Neuralstem scientists selected the best 10,000 compounds and began testing them in the laboratory. Each compound was tested with different dosages, so this was quite a lengthy process. It was all possible because Neuralstem had access to an unlimited number of hippocampal stem cells.Finally, Neuralstem narrowed the field down to one very potent neurogenic drug. This particular drug achieved what Neuralstem scientists were aiming for, hippocampal growth.About the same time, the medical community started to become aware of the fact that the hippocampus was shrinking in depressed patients. Scientists began to think that perhaps the reason Prozac and other antidepressant drugs really work is because they are actually regenerating cells in the hippocampus. Animal studies were conducted and this was determined to be the case. MRI scans showed that antidepressant drugs increased hippocampal volume on a percentage basis, low to mid-single digits.So everybody in Big Pharma started chasing neurogenic drugs as a means of beating depression and other cognitive diseases. Of course Neuralstem had a tremendous advantage here, because it was the only company that had access to an unlimited supply of hippocampal stem cells.Neuralstem wanted to test its new drug for depression, so the company obtained about $500,000 from NIH, which it invested in animal studies to see the effect of its neurogenic drug on depression and hippocampal volume.The company discovered that its drug was as good if not better than allthe antidepressive drugs on the market. The commercial antidepressants were showing hippocampal volume increases of about 5% or below, whereas Neuralstem's new drug was able to increase hippocampal volume up to 20%. By most other measures, Neuralstem's drugexcelled in decreasing depression symptoms.Neuralstem was encouraged by these results so it decided to do a human study. This was the first human study with this class of drugs, so the FDA needed a strong safety trial first. Neuralstem conducted a placebo-controlled Phase Ia trial with 41 healthy volunteers to prove to the FDA that its small molecule drug was safe.After that trial, the data was so good in terms of safety that the FDA gave Neuralstem the go-ahead for a Phase Ib trial so it could start dosing actual major-depressive disorder patients.No Side EffectsPerhaps the most important information that came from that Phase Ia trial was the fact that there were absolutely no side effects. For example, one of the most popular antidepressants, Prozac lists common side effects which include nausea, insomnia, sexual dysfunction, and anxiety. Some of these side effects are worse than the actual depression, so many patients just quit using the drugs.The company should soon be finished dosing the first cohort of major depressive disorder patients in the Phase Ib trial. These patients took the pill once a day for 28 days in a randomized placebo-controlled trial. The second and third cohorts will take the pill twice a day and three times a day respectively.In addition to measuring all the kinds of things you measure for depression, Neuralstem is also taking MRI scans to see if it can detect an increase in hippocampal volume. All of these patients will receive MRI scans before, during, and after the trial. Even though this is primarily a safety trial, given the new nature of the drug, Neuralstem will be looking for increases in hippocampal volume as well as improvement in depression measurements.This human trial will be finished in December 2012, and we will see results soon thereafter. Positive results could have a major effect on the share price.

Neuralstem's goal is to partner with one or more major pharmaceutical companies that will not only address the depression market, but will also address all the other neurogenic drug markets where hippocampal atrophy is an issue, including Alzheimer's, stroke, traumatic brain injury, antiaging, and post traumatic stress.

Neuralstem's New Drug Could Treat Alzheimer'sI believe the next major indication for Neuralstem's neurogenic drug will be Alzheimer's. Preliminary studies have indicated that cognitive diseases like Alzheimer's and dementia are directly linked to hippocampal atrophy. Remember, Neuralstem developed this product for the Army to prevent hippocampal shrinkage and to improve cognitive ability. We know that, at least in animal studies, that Neuralstem's drug increases hippocampal volume by up to 20%. Such a large increase in hippocampal volume implies considerable cognitive improvement. If a drug was able to increase cognitive ability in Alzheimer's and dementia patients, that would be a tremendous medical breakthrough.

I have to agree with Hadora... the fact that this chemical has progressed to the stage of multi-phase HUMAN clinical trials is indicative in itself that it has already passed the obligatory TOXICITY / SAFETY trials conducted on ANIMALS which would include screening for CARCINOGENICITY; and hence it is indeed highly unlikely

This looks very promising for depression or those who have been chronically depressed, as the hippocampal atrophy it induces is slow to remiss and makes depression more likely in the future. This, coupled with memory training could be golden ticket!

These are exciting times guys! More and more potentially ground-breaking substances emerge as popularity for nootropics snowballs... Maybe our enthusiasm and diligent research over here at longecity even had a hand in this acceleration.. I like to think so

These guys look legit. We were going to go with them with the PRL-8-53 synth; but, went with Novochemy. For this group buy to be feasible you'd likely have to go with a supplier that wont charge that much.